Several restaurants in central Prague were among two dozen eateries fined
last year for severe breaches of consumer legislation. The Czech Trade
Inspection Authority found that nearly 40 percent of restaurants inspected
broke the law; the most frequent problems include short measures of beer
and other drinks, overcharging, as well as automatically including tips in
bills without the guests’ knowledge.

Photo: Kristýna Maková
The highest fine of 160,000 crowns, or over 8,000 US dollars, was handed to
Pražský gurmán, a firm that runs U Vejvodů, a popular beer hall in
Prague’s Old Town, according to the news website aktualne.cz. On their
visit, the inspectors were themselves overcharged; three of their beers
arrived in short measure ( i.e. lower volume than the advertised half
litre) and one of their meals was also smaller than advertised. They were
also charged for bread they did not order, an old trick in U Vejvodů’s
book, and the bill included a 70-crown “involuntary” tip charged
without informing the guests.

Second in the list came Mystic Café, a venue located just outside Prague
Castle. Its proprietors were fined 100,000 crowns for overcharging; the
guests were automatically charged a 10-percent tip without having been
informed. English-speaking inspectors were also only given picture menus
which did not list the prices, and were told that the drinks menu was not
available at all. Mystic Café was a repeat offender as in 2012 it also
landed a 50,000-crown fine.

Reporters from Aktualne.cz visited both places, posing as tourists. They
found that U Vejvodů no longer used the deceptive tricks to cheat their
clients. Mystic Café, on the other hand, seemed to be sticking with its
past practices as the reporters encountered exactly the same problems as
those registered by the inspectorate. The Bar Nebe, or Heaven Bar, in
Prague’s Wenceslas Square, meanwhile, ran into trouble for overcharging
as well as for a 5-percent tip put on the bill without the guest’s
knowledge. That cost its owners a 80,000 crown fine.

Besides short beer measures, charging tips without informing customers was
the most common problem inspectors came across last year. At least five
other Prague venues were fined because of it, including the Čertovka and V
Lázních restaurants, both located in popular tourist areas near Charles
Bridge. Several other restaurants and bars were fined for illegally selling
single cigarettes although Czech legislation demands that cigarettes can
only be sold in sealed packs.

The Czech Trade Inspection Authority last year fined five more restaurants
than in 2013. In total, its staff inspected 3,550 restaurants, bars, pubs
and cafés and other places last year, and found that 39 percent of them
broke the law in one way or another. The officials believe the high
proportion of law breaking venues was due to the fact the inspection
focusing on establishments that had already breached the law in the past
and that it often acts upon tips from the public. Last year, the
authorities receive nearly 780 such complaints.